Help with choosing sand for my tank

"Live" or "dead" sand for new reef tank?

  • Live all the way

    Votes: 11 47.8%
  • Regular (dead) sand

    Votes: 9 39.1%
  • Try to mix both

    Votes: 1 4.3%
  • Little or no sand at all

    Votes: 2 8.7%

  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .

European

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Hello,

I am about to add some bed sand at least 1" in my 125 gallon tank, and can't decide which one to go with.
I would like to hear some pros and cons of certain sand I will post under this post as it hard to maintain the tank, etc. I love white/pink sand like the one can be seen in the ocean, real oceanic look.

Here are some of them...

CaribSea Aragonite Aquarium Reef Sand

https://www.petsmart.com/fish/suppl...ite-aquarium-reef-sand-16742.html?cgid=300014

CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand

http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea...Reef_Aquariums-CaribSea-CS0020-FISSDS-vi.html

This one looks so awesome good:
CaribSea Aragamax Sugar-Sized Sand 30 lb

http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea...eef_Aquariums-CaribSea-CS0930-FISSDS-vi.html#

CaribSea Arag-Alive 20-Pound Special Grade Reef Sand, Fiji Pink

https://www.amazon.com/CaribSea-Ara...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JNDN70YR2PZMJWHQH7JK

What do you guys think? Which one would look the best as natural bed (like in ocean) and the best for maintaining the tank clean/clear...

Btw, I am planning to have mixed reef tank with fish ( a couple tangs, etc ).
 
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European

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I would go with the sand with the least amount of silt. This way you can have strong wave action and still keep the display clear. I hate it when silt blows around the tank and you never get a crystal clear tank. My .02 cents
I get you point. Which sand would be that?
 

Untamedrose

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There is an issue with "live sand" with just How alive is it? How live was it when packages vs how live was it after sitting on the shelf for how long?????? actually think it's still alive after a month few months year?

personally I think your better off with some dry sand and really nice live rock... or combo with a 125 lot of room
 
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European

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There is an issue with "live sand" with just How alive is it? How live was it when packages vs how live was it after sitting on the shelf for how long?????? actually think it's still alive after a month few months year?

personally I think your better off with some dry sand and really nice live rock... or combo with a 125 lot of room

So, you are fun of dry sand.
 

reefsahoy

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I get you point. Which sand would be that?
I will check the sand I got. Initially I added it to a biocube and have a mp10 moving water and I have no silt blowing around. I'm currently going to start a new tank and my daughter got me the same sand for a Christmas gift. I will let you know when I get home.
 

Jofiel

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I'm considering using a combination of Tropic Eden Meso and miniflakes people seem to really like it and because of the larger size you can have lots of flow. It looks lovely in all the pictures I've seen. I still want to see it in person though before I make up my mind.

https://premiumaquatics.com/search?search=tropic+eden
 

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I'm considering using a combination of Tropic Eden Meso and miniflakes people seem to really like it and because of the larger size you can have lots of flow. It looks lovely in all the pictures I've seen. I still want to see it in person though before I make up my mind.

https://premiumaquatics.com/search?search=tropic+eden
+1 on Tropic Eden or CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand
 

Daniel@R2R

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I highly recommend the Reef Flakes or Mesoflakes by Tropic Eden. I used them on my new tank and LOVE them!
 

reefwiser

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Clean it well most sands today work well. When I put sand in my tank in 1985 it was part of th Berlin method and was so new all that was available was basic play sand. But it worked fine my Christmas wrasse loved it.
 

reefsahoy

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im using caribsea arag-alive sand. Not sure if they have different grades but when I went to the lfs, I had then stir their sand in the tank and very little silt was disturbed. I added to my biocube and got very little silt. Now I have 2 new bags waiting to go into my new build. Hope this helps.
 
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I love love and again LOVE Fiji pink white sand, but I am afraid it might not settle and will make very often storm with the water flow.

Did anyone had any good or bad experience with this sand ?
 

erinmegan85

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If you like the look of the Fiji pink sand check out the Bimini pink sand that Caribsea makes. I was thinking about the Fiji pink with my new 20 gallon I'll be setting up soon, but saw the Bimini pink and liked it even better. Seems a little more coarse than the Fiji pink to me too.
 
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+1 on Tropic Eden or CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand

Uh uh, I love Tropic Eden. Looks so white and beautiful. Do you think it will make some storm with higher flow? I have xf250 gyre in 125 gallon tank, 72" long, 18" 1/2 wide and 23" in height.
 

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Uh uh, I love Tropic Eden. Looks so white and beautiful. Do you think it will make some storm with higher flow? I have xf250 gyre in 125 gallon tank, 72" long, 18" 1/2 wide and 23" in height.
Most likely not. Just would depend on your rock scape and positioning of the Gyre.
 
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Thank you all, guys. Thanks, thanks thanks for all info and sharing your experience with me/us. I placed the order for Tropic Eden MiniFlakes 20lbs (-2.0mm ) and Tropic Eden Aragasnow, sugar size, 0.5mm ) 30lbs. So, 50lbs should be enough for 125 gallon and 1" deep. I hope this mixed will look good in my tank.
 
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Unforfunetely, I have been notified by seller that tropic eden aragasnow sand is not available to until the end of January or early February.

I don't want to go with other sand but the one I already mentioned above. Anyone any idea where I can buy this sand? It seems no one is selling it. :-(
 

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I would definitely look into the Carribsea Live Sand. I personally went with the Black Hawaiian sand that is pretty large grain so that it doesn't get blown around by pumps at all. Corals look so vivid against the black as well, especially under blue LEDs. I can post some pics of my aquarium or you could check out my build log if you want to see what it looks like...
 

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If you like the look of the Fiji pink sand check out the Bimini pink sand that Caribsea makes. I was thinking about the Fiji pink with my new 20 gallon I'll be setting up soon, but saw the Bimini pink and liked it even better. Seems a little more coarse than the Fiji pink to me too.

I did a mix of Fiji pink and Bimini on this tank. And I hate the large chunks that are in the Bimini. They all rise to the top, and look like poop once coralline starts growing. It never looks clean. I'm actually planning on pulling it out and putting new sand in. That's how much I hate it.
 

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